Chapter 1 — Ten Lifetimes of a Fox

My mother was a seven-tailed white fox, and my father was a five-tailed fire fox. Logically speaking, when two such powerful beings conceived offspring, the absolute worst they could produce should still have been a six-tailed fox. Yet, my mother endured nine pregnancies, and every single time, she gave birth to nothing more than a pathetic, one-tailed earth fox. Convinced that their spiritual cultivation was simply lacking, the pair doubled down, throwing themselves into grueling, unending meditation and training.

The truth, however, was far more tragic. Every single child my mother carried to term had actually been a magnificent nine-tailed celestial fox from the moment of conception. But the instant they were born, her personal maidservant had secretly switched them out and ruthlessly crushed the life out of them. And I was that profoundly unlucky soul who had died nine times over. By the tenth reincarnation, I threw a furious, tear-soaked tantrum and flat-out refused to go through with it again.

The Heavenly Dao grew so thoroughly exasperated by my incessant whining that it finally promised to personally intervene and resolve the issue. I naively assumed the divine forces would simply summon a bolt of celestial lightning to blast that treacherous maid and those wretched substitute foxes into oblivion. Instead, it bestowed upon my mother the ultimate, max-level skill of newborn-speech comprehension.

When I blinked my eyes open once more, my father was cradling a scrawny, jet-black earth fox, weeping bitterly into my mother's robes.

"Ah Yi, this must be my uselessness at fault. Our child... our child still only has a single tail."

Meanwhile, the maid had hidden me away inside the deep fold of her wide sleeve, quietly preparing to dispose of me. In the nick of time, I shrieked at the top of my lungs: [Mother, save me! I've been switched by your maid, I am trapped right inside her sleeve!]

The hand that my mother had been using to comfort my father instantly froze. She lifted her gaze, fixed a glacial glare upon the furtive-looking maid, and spoke with absolute authority:

"Stop right there! What on earth do you have hidden in your sleeve?"

That single sharp command not only startled the maid, whose name was Lan Chi, but it frightened my father so badly that his knees buckled and he dropped straight to the floor.

"Ah Yi, I was wrong! I swear I will cultivate diligently day and night, and soon grow that elusive sixth tail. I promise the next litter will be full of proper five-tailed foxes!"

Completely ignoring my frantic father, my mother shoved him aside with one hand and strode rapidly toward Lan Chi, her expression chilling with every step as she repeated her demand.

"Lan Chi, what are you concealing in your sleeve?"

A flash of genuine confusion flickered across Lan Chi's eyes, though she quickly smoothed her features and sank into a deferential bow.

"Reporting to the divine mistress, this humble servant only keeps a few everyday items in her sleeves—handkerchiefs, rouge, and powder. There is nothing else whatsoever."

With that, she straightened up, her face registering pure, innocent anxiety as she looked at my mother. "My lady, what is wrong? Do you require something specific?"

Her demeanor was so remarkably natural that for a split second, even my mother began to doubt her own ears. But I immediately piped up again from my dark prison. [Save me, Mother! It is pitch black in here, and I am so scared!]

My mother's hesitation vanished, replaced by an expression of cold, unwavering certainty. Her face darkened as she issued a crisp command:

"Empty everything out of your sleeves onto the floor right now."

Panic flared in Lan Chi's chest, but as her mistress, my mother's word was absolute law. With trembling hands, the maid began to pull out her belongings. True to her word, the pile consisted only of mundane trinkets—a handkerchief, a bronze mirror, and boxes of scented rouge tumbled onto the floor. Finally, she turned the sleeves completely inside out to prove her point.

"Divine mistress, there is truly nothing else left."

My mother stared blankly at the pathetic heap of cosmetics on the floor. My father shuffled over, entirely bewildered. "Ah Yi, what is the meaning of this? Why are you suddenly obsessed with Lan Chi's sleeves?"

Finding the whole situation utterly absurd, my mother waved a dismissive hand. "It is nothing. I must have misheard."

Her words sent a wave of panic crashing over me. How could she give up just like that? In all my previous lives, Lan Chi had successfully smuggled me away using this exact method. No, wait. Amidst my mounting confusion, I realized I was still enclosed in absolute darkness, and hovering right above my head were several glowing strips of golden talismans. Comprehension dawned upon me, and I yelled out frantically: [Mother, I am inside a pouch! Look closely, see if she is wearing a pouch or something similar on her waist!]

My mother's eyes widened in sudden realization. Her gaze swept over Lan Chi from head to toe until it locked onto an ornate sachet hanging from the maid's belt. The pouch was embroidered with intricate golden clouds and accented with a lustrous pearl the size of a thumb. The stitching was so exquisite that even at a glance, it was clearly not a mortal artifact. Lan Chi had served by my mother's side since childhood, and every single luxury she owned had been bestowed upon her by the palace. My mother knew for a fact she had never given out a treasure like that.

"Where did you get that sachet?" my mother demanded.

A shadow of panic finally breached Lan Chi's composed facade, but she quickly forced a bashful, blushing smile. "Reporting to the divine mistress... it was a gift from my beloved."

Everyone in the realm knew that a year ago, Lan Chi had saved the young master of the black fox clan. The two had fallen deeply in love, and recently, their families had even begun discussing marriage. If he had given it to her, the explanation seemed plausible.

My mother held out her hand. "Hand it over. Let me see."

The smile froze entirely on Lan Chi's face as she instinctively pressed a hand protectively over her waist. "Divine mistress, that wouldn't be appropriate. This is a token of affection given to me by the young master of the black foxes, I cannot simply—"

Too impatient to trade words with the treacherous servant, my mother stepped forward and lunged for the sachet. "I told you to give it to me."

Lan Chi scrambled backward in a blind panic before turning on her heel and sprinting toward the exit. "No! Divine mistress, you can have anything else you want, but not this sachet! The young master said it was a keepsake left by his late mother, and I promised to guard it with my life!"

She wept as she fled, acting as though my mother were some kind of bloodthirsty monster. Having just given birth, my mother's body was still weak, and after chasing the maid for a few paces, cold sweat beaded on her forehead from the sudden exertion. Finally, my father could no longer stand by and watch. He rushed forward to support her by the waist.

"Lan Chi, what has gotten into you? Why throw such a massive fit over a useless little bag?" He turned to comfort my mother. "Ah Yi, stop this madness. Why are you so fixated on a sachet? If you are angry, take it out on me, but please don't—"

Before he could finish his rambling, my mother raised a hand, unleashing a sharp beam of spiritual energy that struck Lan Chi right as she reached the doorway. With a swift flick of her wrist, my mother created a vacuum in the air, instantly snapping the cord around Lan Chi's waist. The sachet flew straight up into the center of the room.

*Crack.*

The fabric burst open. A plump, snowy-white fox kit with nine magnificent tails tumbled gracefully out of midair and straight into my mother's outstretched arms.

The moment I was caught and pulled against her warm chest, I nearly burst into tears. I had died nine agonizing deaths across ten miserable lifetimes, but I had finally reached my fiercely beautiful mother. Her embrace radiated a profound, comforting warmth, and I instinctively rubbed my face against her, letting out a sweet, whimpering cry.

[Mother.]

My father poked my cheek with a finger, full of naive curiosity. "Whose child is this? Why is it so adorably fluffy?"

My mother smiled down at me with boundless tenderness. But the instant she raised her head to look past me, her eyes were frosted with a killing intent.

"Lan Chi," she purred dangerously, "whose child is this?"

Terror seized the maid, and she collapsed hard onto the flagstones with a loud thud. "D-Divine mistress... this is my child!"

I immediately fired back, my tiny voice shrill with indignation: [Mother, she is lying through her teeth! I am your child, and that mangy little black-eared dirt fox on the bed is hers! If you don't believe me, look at the cinnabar mark on my forehead—that is a sacred birthmark exclusive to the Thanh Khau white fox clan! Besides, I am a nine-tailed celestial fox; a low-spiritual-energy earth fox like her could never possibly give birth to someone of my pedigree!]

As I chattered away, I defiantly flicked my nine fluffy little tails back and forth. Hearing this, my mother immediately parted the fur on my forehead. Sure enough, a vibrant crimson mark sat right there, an exact match to the one she bore herself. She then counted my tails, confirming the full, glorious count of nine.

My mother's hands began to tremble violently. I understood the turmoil crashing through her soul. Born a five-tailed fox herself, she had cultivated for two centuries to earn two more tails. Though my father was somewhat absent-minded, his innate talent was peerless; everyone in the realm had expected their union to produce an unprecedented prodigy with seven or eight tails. Yet, through her previous nine pregnancies, she had repeatedly birthed pathetic, single-tailed creatures. It wasn't that she lacked maternal love; she simply could not accept that her bloodline was seemingly cursed with mediocrity.

Her elation lasted only a moment before her gaze snapped back to the kneeling maid. "Lan Chi, why did you swap my children?"

Lan Chi's face drained of all color, yet she stubbornly denied the accusation to the bitter end. "Swap what children? Divine mistress, what on earth are you talking about? This servant does not understand!"

She was pretending ignorance, but my extraordinarily dense father truly did not understand a single word. He blinked stupidly at my mother. "Ah Yi, what is going on here? Will someone please explain?"

With a heavy sigh, realizing that trying to reason through the details with my father was a waste of breath, my mother handed me directly into his arms and summarized the horror.

"Thanh Shuan, this is our actual child. That fox on the bed was switched at birth by Lan Chi."

"Impossible!" My father gasped in sheer disbelief, his loyalty to the maid's facade stubborn as stone. "Ah Yi, have you lost your mind from the labor pains? That little earth fox clearly looks identical to our previous nine children..."

I grew so anxious I thought I would choke, pouring every ounce of my spiritual might into one final, desperate shriek: [That is because those nine children were stolen and replaced by her, too!] [Mother, every single one of those previous pups was mine! I reincarnated nine times, and every single time she snatched me away and crushed my life out!] [This woman is pure evil! She deliberately let you raise her bastard children while destroying yours, Mother, she—]

"What? You mean my previous children were all..."

The fox clan was fiercely, aggressively protective of their young. Before I could even finish my frantic accusations, murderous intent flared in my mother's eyes. She raised a hand, telekinetically wrapping an invisible grip around Lan Chi's throat and hoisting her off the floor.

"Lan Chi," my mother hissed, a terrifying storm gathering in her voice, "you have served me for a thousand years. I treated you with nothing but generosity and grace. How dare you butcher my flesh and blood?"

Golden spiritual energy began to violently coalesce in the palm of her hand, ready to blast straight into Lan Chi's body and tear her soul apart. The maid thrashed wildly in the air, still choking out desperate denials. "No, I didn't..."

Before the fatal blow could land, a streak of dark, jagged lightning cut through the room. My mother was forced to block the heavy impact, and the young master of the black fox clan, Xuan Liet, swept in to catch the falling maid.

Lan Chi threw herself into his arms, weeping with a wretched, theatrical despair. "Young master! Save me, young master! The divine mistress is going to murder me!"

Xun Liet wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders, his brows knit into a fierce scowl. "What is the meaning of this? Why would the divine mistress suddenly resort to such brutality against you?"

Pointing a trembling finger straight at me in my father's arms, Lan Chi sobbed, "Young master, the child I bore for you... the divine mistress discovered it! She insists that this baby belongs to her, and now she's trying to kill me to cover it up!"

Shock rippled across Xuan Liet's face. "What are you talking about? What child?"

Tears streaming endlessly down her cheeks, Lan Chi spilled her fabricated tale. She claimed that when she first rescued Xuan Liet a year ago, he had not only been severely injured but also afflicted with a potent aphrodisiac poison. To save his life, she had reluctantly given herself to him. She had never imagined she would conceive from a single encounter, and by the time she discovered the pregnancy, it had been far too late to terminate it.

"Young master," she wailed, "if word of this got out, both of us would become the laughingstock of the entire realm. I had no choice but to hide it and bear the child in secret. Who could have known that the moment the divine mistress gave birth today, she would somehow discover the infant, seize it by force, and falsely accuse me of swapping her litter? Please, you must save our child..."

Xun Liet stood frozen for a long moment, processing the wild claim. Then, lifting his chin, he looked straight at my mother.

"Divine mistress," he said coldly, "if this child is indeed the blood of Lan Chi and myself, I must ask you to return it."

My mother let out a chilling, sardonic laugh. Far from relinquishing me, she pulled me even closer to her chest, her eyes blazing with absolute fury.